Historic Tuscumbia church receives grant

TUSCUMBIA-St. John’s Episcopal Church, in Tuscumbia, and the Muscle Shoals National Heritage Area have won a grant to work with the national nonprofit Partners for Sacred Places to help activate this historic building as a vital community resource.

The Technical Assistance grant recently was awarded by the Heritage Development Partnership in collaboration with the National Park Service. The grant will fund an asset-mapping project which will engage local leaders and members of the public. Asset-mapping will connect the dots between key community institutions and resources to respond to unique opportunities that will contribute to the vitality of the National Heritage Area and surrounding communities.

“MSNHA is interested in the preservation of historic places of worship as part of its mission to protect and preserve cultural and historic resources throughout its six-county region,” said Alma Hubbard, MSNHA director. “The connection of assets can lead to new programs, connect new resources and initiate new partnerships that make the most of St. John’s place in the community.”

St. John’s work with Philadelphia-based Partners for Sacred Places will focus on a bold approach to advance the preservation and active use of the church’s important historic building by thinking creatively about ways to respond to the needs and opportunities posed by the community. Partners is the only national, nonsectarian nonprofit committed to the preservation and active community use of America’s older religious properties.

“This is an exciting opportunity both for St. John’s and for the entire Shoals community,” said Ninon Parker, St. John’s trustee and project partner.

“This project will allow the Diocese of Alabama to provide a significant service to the broader area that was so long served by this venerable old parish,” added Rev. Thomas Osborne, deacon of Grace Episcopal Church, Sheffield, and also a project partner.